Tracks of Giants: Crossing the Desert

Tracks of Giants: Crossing the Desert

I have been to the tiny dusty village of Puros a number of times, but never had this collection of drab tin and pre-fab dwellings been such a welcome sight. Lying on the edge of the Hoarusib River that splits the true Namib Desert from the pre-Namib and Escarpment to...
Tracks of Giants: Hiking the Skeleton Coast

Tracks of Giants: Hiking the Skeleton Coast

1 May 2012 wake-up call at 0500 – it was very dark and damp on the little promontory of Rocky Point, jutting into the Atlantic Ocean on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.  After years of discussion, an announcement of intention during WILD9 (Mexico, 2009), and two years of...
Tracks of Giants: Driving to Rocky Point

Tracks of Giants: Driving to Rocky Point

30 April, at the base camp in Purros, NW Namibia– We packed for the first 5 days which would be a Wilderness Leadership School type wilderness trail, or trek, that would launch TRACKS on the coast of Namibia, headed east for 5 months to the Indian Ocean.  Packed and...
Tracks of Giants: Getting Ready

Tracks of Giants: Getting Ready

After meetings in Washington DC in late April, everything was focused on gathering exit speed in the US to head to NW Namibia to join the team members assembling from all points of the compass to launch the Tracks of Giants expedition.  As I departed the US on 25...
Andrew Muir Awarded at World Economic Forum on Africa

Andrew Muir Awarded at World Economic Forum on Africa

Five leading innovators were named the Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2012 Africa by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among the five winners is WILD’s close friend and colleague...
Return of the Lynx

Return of the Lynx

In my undergrad ecology class at SUNY at Buffalo we studied predator/prey cycles and a well-studied phenomena of ecology is the predator prey cycle of the Canada lynx and Snowshoe hare.  I worked in a struggling record store while in college that also had used books...

Tracks of Giants expedition to launch May 1st!

May 1st is just around the corner! The Tracks of Giants website has been launched, the intro video is complete, people are following along on Facebook and Twitter, and the team is ready to go. Don’t miss out on this exciting journey–be sure to follow along...
Dr Ian Player receives the Anton Rupert Award

Dr Ian Player receives the Anton Rupert Award

Peace Parks Foundation CEO, Mr Werner Myburgh (second from right), hands the Anton Rupert Award certificate to Dr Ian Player (second from left). Dr Player and Mr Myburgh are flanked by Mrs Ann Player and by Dr Frank Raimondo, member of the Peace Parks Foundation...
“A heart for rhinos”– Interview with Dr. Ian Player

“A heart for rhinos”– Interview with Dr. Ian Player

In this upcoming April edition of Africa Geographic, Dr Ian Player–WILD’s founder–is interviewed by Rachel Lang about the past and present rhino poaching crisis. Dr Player is a ‘man of many reasons’ for wilderness: African game ranger, international...
Sleepwalking in the Wilderness, Part II

Sleepwalking in the Wilderness, Part II

“Wilderness, it is here I came to know myself, but it was only just the beginning, because I found the more you know your true self, the more you know about those around you,” J. Shaw, participant on trail with the Wilderness Leadership School, South Africa. I chose...
Rhino Briefing in DC

Rhino Briefing in DC

The rhino poaching crisis is escalating daily.  Of the world’s total rhinos (approximately 20,000 white rhino, and 4,000 black rhino), 80% are in South Africa, so that is where the poaching syndicates concentrate.  So far this year, until 15 March, 135 rhino have been...
Sleepwalking in the Wilderness

Sleepwalking in the Wilderness

Orion’s belt is now in the center of my sky.  The moon is half, waxing to full.  The air is cold, crisp and there is a heavy stillness, deathly quiet.  It is January 1, 2012, I think.  Something made me stir from my dreamtime and I slowly lift my eyelids to gather...
Forever Wild-YouTube Intervention

Forever Wild-YouTube Intervention

The Ogilvy Cape Town Agency created an interesting analysis of a new strategy developed in a social media campaign for our sister organization, the Wilderness Foundation South Africa. The members of the Wilderness Network, which includes the Wilderness Foundation...

Sable Shenanigans, by Ian Michler

The victims of bureaucracy and unscrupulous operators, more than 200 sable antelope have been penned in a new national park in Zambia for almost three years. Investigative journalist Ian Michler filed this special report. (First published in Africa Geographic,...
WILD10: Save the date!

WILD10: Save the date!

WILD10, The 10th World Wilderness Congress , Salamanca, Spain, 4-10 October 2013! The WILD10 process is well underway in Europe. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (newly reconstituted) is the national host,  having provided some of the start-up funds...

Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition

In case you haven’t heard, our partners at the Florida Wildlife Corridor began their expedition on January 17th. This trek is set to cover about 1,000 miles over 100 days and starts by traversing the Everglades ecosystem into Big Cypress, over to the Everglades...
The fishing cat wants to swim…Pass it on!

The fishing cat wants to swim…Pass it on!

Sob stories about endangered species are so 2011. So instead we’re sending you a tale about a CAT in WATER. A story about how community, photos and film are giving an endangered animal, the aptly named fishing cat, a chance at survival. Around this time last year, my...